The stalled expansion of an 18km stretch of NH12 between Amdanga Santoshpur in North 24-Parganas and Rajberia crossing in Nadia is set to start next month.

A special officer appointed by Calcutta High Court on Thursday placed a report before the court, saying the dispute over the acquisition of plots from 12,000-odd families under 78 mouzas had been settled.

The expansion of the highway that connects south Bengal to north Bengal and the Northeast was stalled after the state government failed to hand over the required plots to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) following strong opposition
from landowners.

In his report, the special officer informed the division bench of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya that the state had recently handed over the required land to the NHAI and the expansion work would start on March 1
this year.

Considering the importance of the road, the Centre had taken up the job of widening NH12. A PIL was moved in 2023 in the high court seeking its intervention.

Petitioners claimed that the state had failed to settle the dispute with the landowners and thousands of traders and common passengers had been suffering for years with the expansion remaining stalled.

“The expansion of NH12 would bring north Bengal closer to the south. Transport will take less time for travelling,” the petitioners had claimed.

Following the PIL, the division bench headed by the Chief Justice appointed a special officer in 2023 and asked him to file a report before the court after scanning the issue in detail.

“NH12 starts from Barasat in south Bengal. Expansion work between Barasat and Amdanga Santoshpur was completed smoothly. But the project received a jolt when some landowners between Amdanga Santoshpur ( North 24-Parganas) and Rajaberia crossing (Nadia) declined to give their plots and stopped the construction,” a counsel for the petitioners said.